Tag: writing resource

Happy Earth Day! It’s a good day to recognize that we are entirely dependent upon our planet and its resources, and if we don’t start making some changes we won’t like the results. It’s also a good day to remember that people worldwide are already suffering due to climate change, especially people who have the least power to facilitate the changes we need to make. Climate change affects populations disproportionately, and its effects cannot be separated from all other socioeconomic factors.

Rant over. In honor of Earth Day, along with some mindfulness, have a very, very cool resource: Planet Maker. This insanely cool site allows you to design a planet according to your very specific specifications. Awesome for worldbuilding.

Many books like to complect obscure, tonish words into their stories and use them crebrously. By the end of it, the reader just feels smarter, their facund vocabulary munified by at least one.

Here’s a good resource for finding that recherché word that will become forever associated in your readers’ minds with your story. The Logorrhea is a dictionary of unusual, lautitious, cacologous words. Now you can bloviate to your heart’s content.

When you write fear you have to amp up the emotion. The best I’ve ever seen it done is in Kathy Reich’s Virals series, the only time I can remember reading a book that got my heart pounding and my body panic-electrified for real. It’s more than describing a character’s physical reactions, it’s making the reader feel the same terror that your protag does. It’s a moment where the reader will either be drawn further into the story or experience a disconnect from the emotion, withdrawing slightly from the narrative.

Here is a post by a great blog that touches on the more physical symptoms of fear a character might experience. It’s not something that I’ve seen talked about a lot, but it’s an important part of writing an effective scene. I’m still working on writing fear effectively. If anyone has any further resources, feel free to share.